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In my brief history of competitive running, I’ve had exactly two incidents of “injury.” (The quotations denote the dubiousness of these having been bonafide injuries.)

In the first case, I suffered through the first four months of a five month training program for my first marathon with shinsplints. The cause was classic: I ramped up mileage and intensity at the same time. And, as usual, I was too stubborn/oblivious to change my ways. So I huffed handfuls of Tylenol and suffered through my runs and tuneup races. A month before the big race, they mysteriously went away, never to return.

In the second case, I suffered a slight tear to my right calf’s fascia. This came as a result of doing lots of racing (and not enough recovery) during the height of training for marathon #3 on a Pfitzinger 18 week/70+ miles per week plan. I also limped around with that, only going to an orthopedist 10 days before the race. He told me to — you guessed it — huff the painkillers and I’d be fine.

I had no issues in the ensuing nine months. Until yesterday, when I was visited by a periodic sharp, stabbing pain on my left shin, sort of between the muscle and the bone. I ran and walked fine on it. I could go for hours without an issue but then, without warning, sitting in an easy chair, the icepick would be thrust. Speaking of ice, that didn’t help.

I took a painkiller last night and hoped for the best. Today the pain’s gone.

This is why I don’t worry about such things as much as I find them annoying. They never turn out to be anything serious. I am extremely lucky in this regard.